Category: Uncomfortable Realities

American History Race Uncomfortable Realities US History

About Jim Crow from NYHS

Marabou really likes and appreciates the honest language New York Historical Society uses in this post about the origins of the name Jim Crow. No sugarcoating, just telling it like it is.

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Why was it called #JimCrow? In the 1820s, Jim Crow was a #blackface minstrel character created by New Yorker Thomas "Daddy" Rice, a white stage performer. Rice played his character for laughs, and white audiences loved him, seeing Jim Crow as an accurate representation of an inferior race. As minstrel shows became all the rage, Jim Crow inspired the spread of racial stereotypes about black Americans, who were shown as laughable and inept, often less than human. … After the #CivilWar, this kind of racist imagery proliferated in pop culture. These caricatures were so popular—and so widespread in advertising, manufactured goods, art, and music—that they became part of everyday American life. They hung framed in family parlors, rested on kitchen tables, and decorated children's toys. The constant flow of visual messages made black Americans appear incapable of accomplishing the simplest tasks and undeserving of the rights of citizenship. As a result, the character's name became attached to some of the many legal and social measures meant to subjugate African Americans and guarantee white dominance. … Our exhibition "Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow" is on view through March 3. 👆 Learn more about this eerily relevant exhibition at the link in bio. #BlackCitizenship #BlackHistoryMonth #blackhistoryisAmericanhistory . . . 📸 J. Ottmann Lith. Co. (New York), Jim Crow Ten Pins, ca. 1890–1910. The Liman Collection, New-York Historical Society. #nyhscollection #racism #blackhistory

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American Art Class Ethics Uncomfortable Realities Whitney Museum of American Art

Whitney Museum Responds to Staff Concerns Re: Vice Chair

An unsurprising, but still disappointing response from Adam Weinberg, Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Jasmine Weber just published a follow-up article on Hyperallergic that publishes in full the letter Weinberg sent to the Whitney staff in response to the letter of concern signed by more than 100 employees regarding Vice Chairman Warren B. Kanders who is the owner of Safariland, a company that provided the tear gas used on migrants at the Mexican/US border (as well as at Ferguson and the Dakota Access Pipeline protests). … Whitney Museum Responds to Staff Concerns Re: Vice Chair